Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not, but my assumption is that other audits have been carried out. It is part of normal healthcare practice that clinical audits are carried out. Practice is checked and rechecked each cycle to see what can be learned. There are different audits that can be carried out.

For those women who are concerned, the helpline is open to any of them who wants to make a call and seek information. I thank the Irish Medical Organisation and the National Association Of General Practitioners for their co-operation. The Minister has been in touch with them.

If a woman is concerned, she can go to her general practitioner. If it is appropriate and they decide that a repeat smear test should be done, it can be done and we will meet the cost of that.

Again, I want to reassure the women of Ireland that our screening service is safe. It is not 100%, although no screening service is because there are false negatives. If a woman goes for screening there is a very good chance that, if she has cancer, the cancer will be diagnosed early and, as a result, she will get early treatment and a far better outcome and prognosis.

Again, I want to pay tribute to Vicky Phelan for putting that message across. Despite what has happened to her she is sending out the message clearly that people should continue to attend for their smears, breast checks and that the same should apply to men and women for colorectal screening.

I was asked about the Health Information and Quality Authority inquiry. The Department of Health will, on a voluntary basis, agree to be covered by that. It is not in legislation but the Department has agreed to do that and arrangements will be made to do exactly that. HIQA is the body that has powers. It is the body that has done investigations into the health service before in Portlaoise, for example, and in respect of a death in Tallaght Hospital. HIQA has the expertise, knowledge and the statutory power of compellability.

I appreciate the Deputy's suggestion that a commission of inquiry might be an alternative and I cannot rule out that being necessary in the future. However, I would point out that commissions of inquiry take a long time. It is three years, for example, since the commission of inquiry on the Grace case was announced. The Siteserv inquiry could go on for many years. One thing Vicky Phelan has said, and I think she is right, is that she does not want an inquiry that goes on for years. A report could be received by a future Government perhaps. What we want is an inquiry that gives us answers quickly. The risk with a commission of inquiry, of course, is that everyone goes legal and lawyers up and it takes years before we get a report, with probably no answers at the end of that. That is why I am calling for the co-operation of the House in supporting the HIQA inquiry, which we believe will get answers quickly, and, if not, then we will consider a commission.

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